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Book My Discovery CallExplore ProgramsExplore Savvy CirclePricing and minimums: common questions
1. How do I set a food and beverage minimum for a private room or buyout?
Start with your own sales report, not a competitor's number. Take what that room, or the whole restaurant for a buyout, normally brings in on that day and time. Add the extra labor to staff and flip the event, then add your margin. A buyout costs you more than a normal night, so it should pay you more than one. The calculator above runs the math for you.
2. Is there an industry-standard minimum spend for private events?
There's no number you can safely copy. A Tuesday lunch in a small room and a Saturday buyout in a busy steakhouse have nothing in common. Your standard already sits in your sales history: what that space normally makes at that time. Price from there and you can defend the number when someone pushes back.
3. Should a smaller group get a lower minimum?
Not automatically. The room and the night cost you the same whether 12 people come or 20. Price the space and the time first, then the guests. For a small group, offer a smaller room, a slower night or a shorter time block before you cut the minimum on your best night.
4. Guests say our minimum is too high. How do we hold it without losing the booking?
Most pushback comes from hearing the number late or without context. Explain the minimum in the first conversation and put it in writing. Then give three ways to say yes on your terms: a slower night, a shorter time block or a set menu.
5. What should a private event deposit and cancellation policy include?
A $200 deposit holds a group in a non-private space. For a private room or buyout, ask for 25% to 50% of the food and beverage minimum, depending on the season, with the higher end in your busiest months. Then spell out when the deposit becomes non-refundable, the date the final guest count is locked, how the minimum, service charge and tax apply, and what happens if the group spends under the minimum. All of it goes on the signed agreement before you hold the date.
6. What's the difference between a room fee, a food and beverage minimum and a service charge?
A room fee is a flat charge for the space. A food and beverage minimum is the least the group must spend on food and drinks; if they spend less, they pay the difference. A service charge is added to the bill, and how it's handled for staff and taxes depends on your state. Spell out all three in writing, because guests mix them up.